A Prairie Home Companion

Last month when my friend Helen and I were riding home from the quilt expo we listened to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio. The particular one we heard was a rebroadcast from another time.
In addition to the musical segments there is also always The News from Lake Wobegon. This one was about deer hunting. If you have such in your family you'll will surely get a laugh out of this, if not it's still funny.
Go to the following link and click on Segment 6 or you can listen to the whole show if you like.
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20031108/

For the home page go to: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
Here you can find the station and broadcast time for your area as well as other information.

To find out more about Garrison Keillor and A Praire Home Companion go to:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/about/

Fund Free Programs

When you go to The Breast Cancer Site to click to give free mammograms there are also other things that you can fund for free. Just look at the tabs at the top.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites

There you'll also see the following sites: Hunger, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, and Animal Rescue. So click on these too and help fund their free programs.

A-Pass-Along (A question about Rustic Bakers)

The following is an email I received from Rev. Sue Doohan of Hearthstone Ministries and I told her I'd post her question as a Pass-Along.

"I cook and bake outside on a propane grill most of the summer and inside over an open fire most of the winter. Do any readers have experience with this? Cooking seems pretty much the same except there's less temperature control so you have to watch the pot more. Baking has been a challenge. Inside in the dutch oven, it's hard to get stuff to brown on the top and outside under the grill lid it's hard to get browning on the bottom. Also, things take longer to bake on both the hearth and grill. The old wives' wisdom is a "low" oven is one you can lay your hand atop, a "medium oven" is one you can touch without damage, but you wouldn't want to leave you hand resting on the lid, and a "hot" oven you don't want to touch at all. I'm finding I can turn out good quality and "done" baked goods, but their appearance isn't what it would be done in a conventional oven. Your thoughts?"

I told her I had never cooked in a Dutch oven and she sent along the following:

"If your Dutch Oven has feet, you can use it on the stovetop like a dutchoven. I would set it over a low fire or beside a hot fire and I would pull out come healthy but not flaming embers to put on top of the lid. You will essentially be using it as a slowcooker (sitting beside the heat you use for cooking other things) or the bottom rack of a conventional oven (because what you're baking will be near the heat source). When I use mine as a slow cooker, I'm cooking all day over the flames and the oven sits on a large rock which conducts heat as close to the flame as the pot can be without touching the flame. It works just like any other slow cooker in about the same time but you need to turn it occasional for even cooking. When I bake in the dutch oven, I put it on top of low flames, put a rack in the bottom of the pot so there's air space between what I'm baking and the heat source, and keep embers covering the lid. It usually takes a bit longer than the time a recipe calls for ... sort of like if your recipe calls for 350 but you're baking something that calls for 300 at the same time.

Here's another rustic lore I follow ... I only use dry salt to clean my cast iron cookware. First you wipe out as much as you can, then sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the bottom of the pan, then "scour" the rest off with the salt. When your're done (the salt gets dark gray), you dump that out, wipe off the residue and then wipe on oil or melted fat and oila` a virtually non-stick pan."
I thought Kosher salt might work well as it is coarser.

Sue
www.hearthstoneministries.net
sue.doohan@hearthstoneministries.net
sue.doohan1@verizon.net
Effective Christianity Transforms Lives!

Komen Race for the Cure

Since October is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month I thought you should know the link for the Komen Race for the Cure which is:
http://www.komen.org/intradoc-cgi/idc_cgi_isapi.dll?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=350

Here you can find a fitness run/walk in your area where it says "Find an Event"
or go to this link:
http://www.komen.org/events/find_event.aspx?programID=1120&&nodeID=349

My friend Diane is going down to Tampa, Florida this Thursday to do a 3 day walk with some friends. We spent some time together on Sunday making her "Pink Chicks" group some matching neck coolers for the walk. You can find directions for the coolers on the August 10th, 2005 posting of Hodgepodge.

Chocolate Chip Mondel Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
3/4 tsp. almond extract
3/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cooking oil
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all ingregients and pour onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet and shape into an oval. Bake: 350' for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into slices/bars. (Remove to a cooling rack any edges that are already browned.) Move the slices apart. Put back into the oven for another 10-20 minutes more and bake until desired crispness. They should be like a Biscotti.

Noodle Kugel (Noodle Pudding)

12 oz. pkg. wide noodle cooked firm and drained

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinammon

1 cup applesauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

2 Granney Smith apples thinly sliced

1 stick unsalted butter cut up into small pieces

4 eggs well beaten

Mix all ingredients adding the eggs last.

Place in a greased 13 x 9 pan.

Bake 350' for 45-50 minutes until lightly browned.

(Chopped walnuts could be added into the mix if you like.)

Quotation - "Depositing Memories"

A new feature at Hodgepodge.

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children" - Charles R. Swindoll

Ask your kids "What are your favorite memories?"
Are they what you thought they would be?
Ask your parents and grandparents what their favorite childhood memories are. What do you cherish and remember most from your childhood?
Some of mine were listed on the 7/19/05 post - Kansas

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

Are you: - a teacher that's stuck for a lesson plan?
- home schooling your children and looking for new sources of information?
- a student writing a paper and need additional facts?
- a parent at your wits end trying to assist your child with a last minute paper?

This Internet site is maintained for parents, students, and teachers, and contains links to free federal resources for Internet based education.
Go to: http://www.ed.gov/free/index.html

Going to the following link will bring you to their brochure that explains it all:
http://www.ed.gov/free/brochure/free-brochure.pdf

The Breast Cancer Site

Go to this site and save it to your favorites. Try to remember each day as you go to check your emails to stop by here and click on the pink box where it says "Fund Free Mammograms - Click Here"

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites

You may also want to check out the items they have for sale for your holiday shopping, with the money going to a good cause.

Also October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and M&M'S® Milk Chocolate have created a special package of Light Pink and Dark Pink Candies to symbolize their commitment to the cause. Each time you buy, you'll help to fund breast cancer research and outreach programs.*

The 14 oz. and 21.3 oz. packages are available at local retailers throughout September, October and November 2005. M&M'S® Brand will donate $.35 on 14-ounce packages and $.50 on 21.3 ounce packages to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.*
So put a dish of pink M & M's on your desk at work and help support the cause!

Rate My Professors and Rate My Teachers

I had lunch with my friend Diane the other day and she asked how my Brian was doing with his classes at college. I said he was doing fine except that he said that one class he had was "counted the number of ceiling tiles" boring. (He had also counted the number of metal fins on the overhead lights.) She suggested that before he signs up for his next class he checks out:

www.ratemyprofessors.com

He already knew about it and maybe next time he'll check it out before he signs up for his classes. I did look up the professor he was talking about and there were alot of comments saying he was boring.

There is also: www.ratemyteachers.com

Oh, and my friend Diane, she was very highly rated.

A-Pass-Along (David Wilcox)

This pass-along comes from Deacon J of More or Less Church. She asked me if I ever heard of the music of David Wilcox. Her description is that he is a "singer songwriter that is pretty darn witty and often profound (though taken to the extreme it can sound preachy). His voice is similar to James Taylor.... but he doesn't go flat!" She went on to say that she "Heard one of his lyrics on the radio the other day..... story of a 1st date....." and if he does nothing but yell out the waiter, your order is: run!"
As always, you can sample the music at: www.amazon.com

Anything you can lift off your shoulders?

Within the last year or so I cancelled subscriptions to a few magazines I had gotten for years. It's not that I have a big hectic schedule, but just that as they started to pile up when I didn't get around to them, they started to feel more like a burden than a pleasure. Who needs that? I wasn't missing them. All summer I looked at only a few of the daily newspapers and thought of canceling it. Now I'm back to reading it but maybe next summer I'll drop it for a couple months. I can always peruse the magazines as I stand on the checkout line or I could read them at the library.

Is there something in your life that you should think about cutting out that would just make your life easier? Have you done this already? Share with others in the comment area.

A-Pass-Along (Turkey Placemat)

This pass-along comes from Gail J. of Evans, GA. She sends along this link for a cute Turkey Placemat she found at White Sewing.

http://www.whitesewing.com/PDFs/11_placemat.pdf.

Go to this link for the pattern:

http://www.whitesewing.com/PDFs/11_turkeypattern.pdf

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza

My friend Helen and I spent all day last Saturday at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza (9/15-18 Fort Washington Expo Center), arriving shortly after the 10am opening and staying until the 7pm closing. It was advertised as having 200 vendors and 600 quilts and garments. Judging from the amount of time that it took for us to see everything I can believe there was at least this if not more. Our kudos to all the vendors who shared their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm with us, whether we were making a purchase or not. With so many things to choose from, and so much to see, it's overwhelming! After we completed our walk around, rested a bit, and had some time to think, we revisited a few of those kindly vendors and bought just a little bit more. You just can't buy everything you'd like, but we took business cards and in time we can order over the Internet those things we filed in the back of our mind as future projects.

The quilt artist who made quilt pictured above, using French provence prints, is Ms. Pamela Mansfield who has an Art studio called Jabula Designs in Pittsboro NC. She grew up in South Africa and has also made amazing quilts from African fabrcs and batiks for Wendy & Jacques of French Connections in whose booth this was displayed. To reach their website go to:

http://www.french-nc.com/index.html

A-Pass-Along (Free Samples-Hanes & Scotch Brite)

My friend Carrie sent along these 2 places to get free samples:
For Hanes got to:
http://www.fsisolutions.com/hanes/default.aspx

and for Scotch Brite go to:
http://3m.dll1.com/scotchbrite/sample/reg.asp?

...your autograph please...

Last Friday when I picked David up from his day program a woman introduced herself to me and told me how much she enjoys David and looks forward to seeing him there. As we drove off I said to David that everyone there seems to know him as they are all always greeting him by name. I teasingly said to him, "Wow David, everyone knows you. You're famous like Donny. Pretty soon you'll have to be signing autographs like him" and with eyes wide open and a big grin on his face he said, "Will you help me?"

Copyright © 2005 Deborah Sharp Loeb

Child's Turkey Placemat

I can't remember where I found this but I thought I'd put it up here in plenty of time for anyone who'd like to make it for Thanksgiving for their kids or grandkids. I may have gotten it out of a magazine or from:
www.freepatterns.com

Less Expensive Generic Medication

This morning I received an email I had gotten before concerning the various prices charged for prescription medications. It stated that generally Costco charges less for generic forms of most medications and by law anyone can fill a prescription there without being a club member. As always, I check out the validity of such at: www.snopes.com and found it to be true. Go to the following link to read further about this:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp

You can go to: www.costco.com to check on the price of a drug.
Thanks Dave M. for passing this one on.

How to Fold a T-Shirt

Here's instructions on how to fold a T-Shirt. Can you do it on the first try? Go to the link to see how it's done.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/fold.php

Quilt Top

When I was on vacation this past summer I picked up this unfinished quilt top at a flea market in Canada. I don't know the age or history of it. The fabric prints remind me of the 1930's reproduction fabric of been working with. I think it is old as there is alot of piecing together of the prints which is something I think that someone might not bother to do these days. The white fabric has alot of seam stitching marks as fabric that was opened up to reuse it.

Russer Light Ham

Well, now that it's back to school time and you're making those school lunches again, see if the deli counter at your local market has Russer Light ham. I don't know if it's regional or not. It's 98% fat free, never salty, is moist like a boiled ham but taste-wise I'd say it's a cross between a boiled and Virginia ham. My family likes it really thin, shaved in fact. Once in awhile I'll get a couple of 1/4" slices, cube it up, brown it a little, and add it to homemade baked macaroni and cheese. I'd say that 99% of the time if someone has tried it while mine was being sliced up, they'd buy some too!